Former US Official: Deploying Troops to Kharg Island Would Be a Disaster for America, Easy Target for Iran

WASHINGTON – Former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, assesses that the plan to deploy US forces to Kharg Island would be a disaster. The deployment risks turning US troops into ‘hostages’ of Iranian weapons.

“I just think it would be a disaster,” Kent said in an interview with the Washington Post.

“Essentially, it would give Iran a number of hostages on an island that they can bombard with drones and missiles,” he added.

Previously, Axios reported that US President Donald Trump is considering deploying troops to seize Iran’s Kharg Island as leverage to force Tehran to reopen the shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday (22/3) confirmed that all options remain open and did not rule out the possibility of sending US troops to the Iranian island.

On 28 February, the US and Israel began attacking targets in Iran, including Tehran, causing damage and civilian casualties, as well as killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran then carried out retaliatory strikes against Israeli territory, as well as US military targets in the Middle East. Recently, Trump has deployed additional troops to the Middle East in response to Iran’s unyielding stance.

In Washington, Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia accused Trump of sending American sons and daughters to the battlefield because the real estate businessman still cannot accept his defeat in the 2020 general election.